Some unrelated scenes combined into a short film, probably to demonstrate the "Cinecolor" process. One scene depicts "The Marx Brothers" during shooting of what seems to be "Animal crackers". This title isn't to be found in "Catalog of Copyright Entries - Motion Pictures 1912-1939, LOC, 1951", so I'm confident it is Public Domain.

Opening Title:
Stanley Distributing Corporation (Ira H. Simmons, President) presents "Wonderland of California".
Closing Title:
B-607 - The End - Local Colour - An Associated Screen Picture


This movie is part of the collection: Short Format Films

Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: California; Marx Brothers; Cinecolor; short; Local colour; short; documentary

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 5,111 times Reviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: katpooh9 - - September 12, 2011
Subject: Angela Lansbury?
Am I mistaken, or is that Angela Lansbury starting at 3:35? It looks so much like her.

Reviewer: danofan59 - - October 12, 2010
Subject: Marx Oddity
The color rehearsal footage of "Animal Crackers" is fascinating. It would certainly be dated at 1930. It's also an odd duck to be included in something called "Wonderland of California," as the film was produced at Paramounts Astoria, NY studio. If memory serves, "Horsefeathers" was the first Marx film to be produced in Hollywood.

Reviewer: ThePhotoplayer - - December 7, 2008
Subject: Re: Cinecolor
The print is by Cinecolor, and yes, the footage was probably shot by Multicolor, using the same bi-pack photography technique. It obviously stayed on the shelf for a few years because the extant print of this is around 1937, as I recall.

Reviewer: wrk6539 - - November 9, 2008
Subject: Really Interesting
I'm confused by this title. CINECOLOR as a company was created in 1932 from the holdings and patents of the bankrupt MULTICOLOR corporation. The title card clearly states "processed by CINECOLOR," yet the Marx Brothers footage predates the CINECOLOR process as a trade name by two years. Judging from the hairstyles and clothes of the models, I would place the entire production a few years earlier than 1932. That and the fact that there is no copyright on the short makes me wonder if this was indeed an early CINECOLOR test film produced for trade showing to exhibitors and producers. If they were attempting to sell the product, they may have cobbled the short together from older, existing MULTICOLOR test film. Really Really interesting stuff.

Reviewer: Campfire - - November 6, 2008
Subject: Fascinating Footage
The Marx Brothers footage has been floating around for some time, but it's nice to be able to see the rest of this demo reel also. At the time, Cinecolor was arguably as impressive as the two-color Technicolor, but even after full three-color Technicolor took over, Cinecolor was able to give us color in low-budget westerns and other poverty row pictures that could never afford Technicolor's high-end quality for high-end prices. Cinecolor held out until the early 1950s, and even produced its own three-color version before leaving the field. (And, like true Technicolor, Cinecolor doesn't fade, so movies like Scared to Death and Prehistoric Women will still be looking their best long after all the big Eastmancolor epics have faded to amber!)

Reviewer: bartfarb - - October 27, 2008
Subject: wow
this is neato.